Week Five: Focus on the Vowels

Somehow I failed to post the original file, here is the new one:

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In the past week, I tried to focus on the vowels in Wuhan Dialect. As we know in the first post, Mandarin Chinese uses its unique Pinyin (拼音) system to mark the pronunciation patterns instead of using IPA. And one important advantage of using this kind of system is because of the unique monophthongs and diphthongs in Mandarin Chinese: different from core+coda system, we tend to use more unified vowel clusters, so in the following section, I will use Pinyin to distinguish the vowel systems in Wuhan dialect.

As I listened to the archetype and compared the online resource, I noticed that there is no distinction among "en/eng" and "in/ing", as for other nasalized vowel cluseters, Wuhan dialect has an, ang, en, in, ong.

As for other vowel clusters, here is a chart with the reprenetative Chinese characters. I tried to practice the following pronunciation with Wuhan accent and compared the differences between the same character's pronunciation in both Mandarin Chinese. I marked the different ones with different background color in the followin chart.

开口呼	齐齿呼	合口呼	撮口呼	备注
ɿ子此十支是	i一比力七气	u五不附户古	y女于入主出	ɯ二日kʰɯ去(白读)
ɑ八大乍下撒	iɑ牙甲恰家瞎	uɑ话瓦瓜化刷	ɕya靴(白读)
o窝末多左合	io约若虐学削
ɤ北得克蛇革	ie也别劣邪绝	uɤ说国虢或获	ye月决掘缺穴	“茄”“薛”“劣”开合不定
ai艾拜乃在介		uai外怪快拐衰
ei贝杯最披内		uei瑰未吹锐回		“最”“脆”“岁”开合不定
ɑu奥包刀少早	iɑu巧妖了小苗
ou欧口杜六竹	iou又牛九囚秀
an南安凡旦短	ien言片天千偏	uan丸船官款欢	yen铅沿倦玄软	“全”“癣”“县”开合不定
ən恩硬崩吞存	in印民丁巾心	uən文坤昏横混	yĭn春允永均唇	“倾”“寻”“旬”开合不定
ɑŋ汤方上巷郎	iɑŋ仰两江香羊	uɑŋ王旺窗光狂
oŋ翁中孟木工	ioŋ荣茸穷兄雄			开合不定者多表现为“武合汉开”

Here is my practice episode for the Chinese Characters:
Vowel Clusters

From the chart above, I noticed that there is no systematic one-to-one correspondence between the vowels clusers in Mandarin and Wuhan dialect from a modern language's view, instead, it is closely related with the prosodic system in Ancient Chinese. So I hilighted all the target, distinct Chinese character in the poem I read and pay special attention to the target vowel clusters. 

Trial Five
I think in this week's practice, I became more aware of the unique vowel cluster features of this target dialect. Though I am not very used to the vowel changes in the Chinese characters, I gradually get the basic vowel posture of Wuhan dialect.So in the upcoming week and the spring break, I will focus on the vowels in suprasegamental level and try to be more familair with the dialectual features.

Week Four: Focus on the Consonants

           My original plan for this week's self-training is a focus on vowels in Wuhan dialect, but having compared my own practice demos with my archetype this Monday, I believe it would be better for me to spend more time on the consonants. I asked the provider of the archetype  who is actually my roommate, and she gave me some feedbacks on my pronunciation training content:

1. If you listen to a "Wuhaner" speaking Mandarin Chinese, the most conspicuous feature to identify his or her dialectual origin is the (accent) "hint"  of the nasality and consonants which are different from the counterparts in Mandarin Chinese. 

Feature One-Nasality
 Mandarin /l/ and /n/ are different phonemes, while in Wuhan dialect we only have a nasalized release /lⁿ/ as the phoneme for the counterpart: Wuhan dialect merges  /l/ and /n/, and doese not distinguish meaning via nasal aveolar and lateral approximants. This kind of pronunciation transfer is very obvious in the  speakers' Mandarin pronunciation.

Feature Two-"Front(Aveolar)"Merge
In Mandarin Chinese, we have two groups of diphathongs, one is ended with /n/ (e.g. /ɛn, in/, etc.) and the other kind is eded with velar nasal/ŋ/ (e.g. /ɑŋ, ɪŋ/).  But in Wuhan dialect, there is another merger: /ŋ/ disappear and /n/ takes up the role for all the nasal diphathongs. The similar phenomenon also applies to fricatives Aveolar /s/ and Retroflex /ʂ/, the retroflex counterpart disappears, and /ʂ/ merges with /s/. It seems that all the "back" consonants are merged with their aveolar counterparts. 

Feature Three-"Dentalized" Affricates
We can hear very sonarant /ts, ts', tç,  tç'/ in Wuhan dialect with a dentalized effect (/ts̪, tç̪/). 

So when I practices the poem, I did some practice for the single consonats C+/an, aŋ/. Here is the link for consonant practice:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/comf3spat8udr2j/Consonants%20in%20Wuhan%20Dialect.mp3

2. Apart from the "theoretical" analysis and segamental practice, I also asked for help from the internet, which gave me a general impression on the consonants. First, I found an R&B pop-music sang with Wuhan dielct which helped me to compare the pronunciation rules I discovered with the authentic sample.

From this sample, I found that the whole consonant system seems to move to a more front part compared with Mandarin Chinese, and the pronunciation is not very clear-cut. And even in the song, the consonants shared the "fronted" feature.

3.  Here is the practice session for the poem, I tried to slow down and pronounce each consonant with extra stress. Having tried several times, I gradually gained the "posture" of producing these typical consonants:

Take Three (Normal speed)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/v9dfbu12559ob02/Take%20Three.mp3

Take Four (Slower Version with a focus on the featured consonants)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/r6ec29z9v8uhfgj/Take%20Four.mp3 

I listened to the two demos and marked some uncertain consonants, then I compared the consonants section with the archetype. I found that I still kepts some velar nasal sound in diphathongs which should not appear in the phonological environment. I also found it difficult to detalize the aveolar fricatives and affricates as long as I started pronouncing it in utterance. The automaticity and fluency is my problem for consonants: I can do better in listening discrimination, but still needs more practice on the target sounds in sentential practice.

5. Plans for next week

•  Keep practicing the target consonants on sentential level;
• Do some research on the vowel section to make sure that the I can make smooth transition from consonants to vowels.
• Try to find more visual aids for pronouncing Wuhan dialect.

Week Three: Presentation on the Consonants in Wuhan Dialect

 
 Hi all,

Here is the link for my presentation on the Consonants in Wuhan Dialect: 

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1V4IUK1sZAtENi1XFIuOCd2LwLtnqgvNF_uqzZ1Rp-uY/edit?usp=sharing

I also attached here the Video and English Translation of the poem I used.

1. Mandarin Chinese Version:

 

【原诗】	【英文版】
再别康桥	Saying Good-bye to Cambridge Again
作者：徐志摩	By Xu Zhimo
轻轻的我走了，	Very quietly I take my leave
正如我轻轻的来；	As quietly as I came here;
我轻轻的招手，	Quietly I wave good-bye
作别西天的云彩。	To the rosy clouds in the western sky.
那河畔的金柳，	The golden willows by the riverside
是夕阳中的新娘；	Are young brides in the setting sun;
波光里的艳影，	Their reflections on the shimmering waves
在我的心头荡漾。	Always linger in the depth of my heart.
软泥上的青荇，	The floating heart growing in the sludge
油油的在水底招摇；	Sways leisurely under the water;
在康河的柔波里，	In the gentle waves of Cambridge
我甘心做一条水草！	I would be a water plant!
那榆荫下的一潭，	That pool under the shade of elm trees
不是清泉，是天上虹；	Holds not water but the rainbow from the sky;
揉碎在浮藻间，	Shattered to pieces among the duckweeds
沉淀着彩虹似的梦。	Is the sediment of a rainbow-like dream.
寻梦？撑一支长蒿，	To seek a dream? Just to pole a boat upstream
向青草更青处漫溯；	To where the green grass is more verdant;
满载一船星辉，	Or to have the boat fully loaded with starlight
在星辉斑斓里放歌。	And sing aloud in the splendor of starlight.
但我不能放歌，	But I cannot sing aloud
悄悄是别离的笙箫；	Quietness is my farewell music;
夏虫也为我沉默，	Even summer insects heap silence for me
沉默是今晚的康桥！	Silent is Cambridge tonight!
悄悄的我走了，	Very quietly I take my leave
正如我悄悄的来；	As quietly as I came here;
我挥一挥衣袖，	Gently I flick my sleeves
不带走一片云彩。	Not even a wisp of cloud will I bring away

2. The Archetype of Wuhan Dialect
https://www.dropbox.com/s/11otnur45dxatjk/Yating%20Archi.wav

Thanks!
Hope you will enjoy the poem.